In his first letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul sharply rebuked the congregation for tolerating, within the congregation, a degree of sexual immorality so depraved that even the Gentiles would not so much as talk about such a thing. A man had become involved in an affair with his father’s wife, apparently his step-mother (1 Cor. 5:1). The Gentiles were unbelievers and idol worshipers. Immorality seemed to naturally go hand-in-hand with idolatry, yet this was a form of immorality that even they found repulsive. Sadly, what the Gentiles of Paul’s day would not even talk about might well be accepted in our nation today with its present cultural mind-set. We are living in a culture of immorality!

Many people are reluctant to be baptized into Christ because they are uncertain as to exactly what living a Christian life will be like. They’re not sure what all Christianity is about, and they’re not sure they can live the lifestyle of a Christian. A brief overview of Christianity can be seen under the heading “The Grace, The Groan, And The Glory.”

Many parents have advised, in some cases instructed, their children to not associate with certain kids at school or in the neighborhood. Their counsel had nothing to do with prejudice. Rather, from their perspective of experience and wisdom that comes with having lived life longer than their children, they saw serious warning signals in the lives and/or behavior of those other kids. Out of love for their children and trying to live up to their responsibility as parents, they took this step to protect their children from potentially dangerous associations. Associations matter!

As established in the previous four articles in this series, there is a war being waged on Christianity. The reader is encouraged to read those articles. The terms Christian and Christianity are used in this segment of articles to refer to all who would call themselves Christians. The war is real, it is worldwide in scope, and the devil is behind it.